Various consumer electronic devices, such as televisions, set top boxes and media players, are configured to be remotely controlled by handheld remote control devices that transmit modulated infrared (IR) remote control signals. Such IR remote control signals typically have a wavelength of about 940 nm and typically have a carrier frequency between 10 kHz and 100 kHz, and even more specifically between 30 kHz and 60 kHz. For an even more specific example, many IR remote control signals have a carrier frequency of about 36 kHz (this is not to be confused with the actual frequency of the IR light itself).
A time-of-flight (TOF) camera, which can also be referred to as a TOF system, may be located in close proximity to (e.g., within the same room as) one or more of the aforementioned consumer electronic devices (e.g., a television, a set top box and/or a media player) that is/are configured to be remotely controlled by a handheld remote control device. For example, a TOF camera may be part of a gaming console that is within the same room as a television, a set top box and/or a DVD player, which can also be referred to as other systems. Such a TOF camera typically operates by illuminating a target with a modulated IR light source and detecting IR light that reflects off the target and is incident on an image pixel detector array of the TOF camera. The IR light source is usually modulated at a relatively high carrier frequency (e.g., about 100 MHz, which is within the radio frequency range) during integration and is typically switched off between frames or captures and during readout. While the carrier frequency of the modulated IR light source is typically well above the carrier frequency of remote control signals, transitions from times during which the light source does not emit the RF modulated light to times during which the light source emits RF modulated light, and vice versa, can produce lower frequency content that can interfere with the remote control signals. Explained another way, a low frequency (LF) power envelope associated with the modulated IR light, produced by the TOF camera, may interfere with remote control signals intended to control another system (e.g., a television) within close proximity to the TOF camera. A vast majority of the interference produced by the TOF camera will not correspond to a valid remote control command, and thus, will be rejected by an IR receiver of the other system (e.g., the television) that is intended to be controlled by remote control signals. However, the interference produced by the TOF camera may be significant enough to prevent a user from being able to actually remotely control the other system (e.g., the television) that is within close proximity to the TOF camera. This can be frustrating to the user, as they may not be able to adjust the volume, brightness, channel, and/or the like, of the other system (e.g., the television) using the remote control device. In other words, a TOF camera can render a remote control device inoperative. Due to relatively poor optical bandpass characteristics of IR receives of televisions, or other systems, such interference problems may even occur where the IR wavelength used by a TOF camera differs from the IR wavelength used by a remote control device. For example, such interference problems may even occur where the wavelength of the IR light used by the TOF camera is about 860 nm and the IR light used by a remote control device is about 940 nm. Further, it is noted that a TOF camera may also cause similar interference problems with other systems that receive and respond to wireless IR signals, such as, but not limited to, systems that include wireless IR headphones and three-dimensional (3D) television systems that include active shutter 3D glasses.